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Tips for Dining Out with Diabetes

You can have diabetes and enjoy a dinner out! Find out how the calories, carbs, fat, and sodium stack up in three popular types of restaurants -- Italian, Mexican, and Chinese. Our diabetes dining guide shows you how to slim down each meal to fit your diabetic eating plan.

Diabetic Restaurant Dining Guide

The average American eats five meals per week at restaurants. With our restaurant guide, you can enjoy delicious dinners out without loading up on carbs and calories.

Our tips and tricks will help you navigate through your favorite cuisine at Italian, Mexican, and Chinese restaurants while keeping your blood sugar in check. Our guide provides easy ways to slim down your favorite appetizers, sides, and main courses, and it shows you how to steer clear of restaurant pitfalls. We've included nutrition information, too. Enjoy!

Diabetic Living's Guide to Italian Restaurants

Italian restaurants rank in the top three most-visited ethnic restaurants in the United States. "A wide range of choices -- from healthier to not-so-healthy -- awaits you at Italian restaurants, and portion control will always be the skill to use to prevent overeating," writes Hope Warshaw, M.S, R.D., CDE, in Eat Out, Eat Right! (Surrey Books, 2007). Follow these Italian restaurant dining tips to stay on track with your diabetic meal plan:

Pasta dishes can often be ordered in smaller (lunch-size) portions, regardless of the time of day. Many Italian restaurants offer whole grain or gluten-free pastas.

Free bread can gobble up your carb allowance before your entree even arrives. If you must have bread, limit yourself to a single serving and go light on the olive oil for dipping.

Pasta sauce can quickly add calories and fat to an otherwise healthy dish. Pick tomato-base toppers filled with veggies instead of sauces loaded with high-fat ingredients such as cheese, cream, or bacon.

No-added-sugar desserts can be deceiving. Before indulging in a piece of cake you think is guilt-free, ask for the nutrition information. Some restaurants offer sugar-free desserts that have a whopping 800 calories per serving!

Slim Down Lasagna

Lasagna is layered with high-fat meat and cheese that contribute a day's worth of fat. We show you how to trim this 8-carb-choice (117 grams of carbohydrate) meal to a manageable 4 carb choices, plus cut the fat by 70 percent.

Slim Down a Garden Salad

A side salad brimming with fresh veggies can be full of good-for-you nutrients. But when it's tossed in high-fat, high-calorie dressing, it becomes a not-so-smart salad. Opt for low-fat dressing on the side, and save 200 calories and 1,220 milligrams of sodium!

Platter-size entrees with all the fixings can total 1,500 calories. Take half home or order a la carte to get only what you want.Cheese and sour cream top many entrees. Ask for reduced-fat sour cream (or skip it altogether) and lower-fat sauces, such as a red sauce rather than cream sauce.Crispy entrees usually mean the dish has been deep-fried. Opt for corn or whole wheat tortillas instead.

Slim Down Fajitas

Fajitas are fresh and tasty, plus you assemble them yourself at the table, so you can cut carbs, fat, and calories. With our tips, you can trim this 12-carb-choice (181 grams of carbohydrate) dinner to 3.5 carb choices.

Slim Down Tortilla Chips

Whether you prefer it spicy or sweet, salsa is a flavorful way to jazz up Mexican dishes. Instead of eating carb-heavy chips with your salsa, skip the chips and save the salsa to spice up your fajitas. You'll save 225 calories and 26 grams of carbohydrate!

Slim Down Sides

Most Mexican restaurants serve refried beans that are loaded with lard and full of fat. Enjoy a half-serving of black beans and ask for a shredded lettuce side salad instead of rice. You'll still get the flavor you love, but without the 420 extra calories!

Slim Down Beef with Broccoli

A typical order of beef with broccoli has more than half a pound of meat; the recommended meat serving is 3 ounces (visualize three matchbooks). And appetizers, sweet sauce, and rice can overpower your carb budget. We help you whittle this 9-carb-choice (132 grams of carbohydrate) dinner to just 3 carb choices.

Beef with broccoli before: 1,118 calories, 38 g carb., 65 g fatSlim it: When you order, ask to have two-thirds of your entree packed in a to-go box. Eat a third of the dish and take the rest home (or share it).Beef with broccoli after: 373 calories, 13 g carb., 21.5 g fat

Eat What You Love!

Food -- sugar, carbohydrate, fiber, protein--is not your enemy. With the help of a wide variety of tasty, low-carb recipes and quick tips to help you eat more healthfully, you can take control of your diabetes with every bite.